Door lock construction



NOV. 17, 1942. Q w. WELLS DOOR LOCK CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 3, 1939 Peienied Nov. 11, 1942 2,302,409

noon Locx CONSTRUCTION Wells, Amesbury, Mass., assigner to George W.

Mich., a

Harley C. Loney Company, Detroit, corporation of Michigan Appliesuon February a, 19,39, serial No. 254,443

1 Claim.

This invention relates to door locks for auto-` embodies a mounting plate 32 constituting simplicity may be opened and closed. The latch of the invention combines novel latch mechanism -used in combination with a novel form of strikerv plate. The latch mechanism embodying -a retractible bolt comprisesv a relatively small number of inexpensive sheet metal parts, as compared with similar devices now in commercial use, and is so designed as to enable the same to be door. The novel striker plate is designed for installation in door frames in the manner of striker plates now being used commercially on automotive vehicles and embodies a one-way acting clutch, which freely yields to admit the latch bolt yet prevents removal of the latch bolt from engagement therewith except upon retraction. A suitable mechanism is provided on the interior of the door of the vehicle so that the latch may be operated from the inside of the vehicle when in gated plate 42,

mounted on. the outside along the outer edge of the swinging.

ends in a bracket 24. The shaft 22 is square to receive an arm 25 having a pin 26 at its upper end passing through a slot 26 in a U-shaped bracket 30.

In the panel I6 an elongated opening 3l is provided to receive the latch mechanism, which a cover `plate for the opening 3I and having upper and lower ends 34 and 36 secured to the panel I6 by screws 38 or other suitable fastening means. The bolt 40 `is carried by the upper end of an elonhavng at its lower end feet 44 extending through openings 46 in the plate 32. There is suflicient clearance in the openings 46 to enable the plate 42 to swing about the feet 44 to retract and project the bolt 40 through the opening 48 in the plate 32. Shoulder capA screws 50 are threaded into the plate 32 at 52 and pass through openings 54 in the plate 42 with sufficient clearance to permit the plate 42 to pivot around its feet 44. Springs 56 located between the head of the. screws 50 and acting against the plate 42 function to project the bolt 40, acting to urge the plate 42 at all times toward the position shown in Fig. 2. A suitable spring (not shown) rotates the outside handle 2li back into its normal position urging the arm 25 against the limit pin 51 on the bracket 24 following rotation to open the door. As should be vreadily understood,

one position and function t0 prevent operation of 3l) IOT/ation Qfthe Shaft 22 0f the Outside handle 20 the latch from the outside when in another po- 4*counter-clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 2, Will Cause sitien, the pin 26, through its engagement with one end In the drawing, of the elongated slot 28, to rockl the plate 42 Fig. l is a cross-sectional view through a door about its feet 44 through the U-Shaped plate 30 and door frame showing the latch mechanism in The striker plate comprises a suitable sheet plan, metal casing 60 having flange portions 62 and 64 Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the latch for supporting the same in a suitable recess 66 mechanism with a section of the door broken located in the door frame I8 in a well known away, with a. portion of the 121,011 mechanism manner. The outer face 68'of the casing 60 has shown in section taken on lines 11-11 of Figs. 1 40 an opening 10 therein with an aligned opening 12 and 3, and a front side 'I4 of the casing. When the door Fig. 3 is a view of the striker plate assembly as I0 is swung Closed, the bolt 40 DaSSeS through the viewed on the section 111-111 of Fig. 2,111 the diopening 12, with the underside 16 sliding upon rection indicated by the arrows, and and supprted by the (1001' Supporting Surface Fig. 4 is a sectional view of a modified bolt hav- 47 18 0f the Striker plate- The approach 30 0f the ing a latch for holding the same projected, surface 18 is preferably slightly sloped down- Referring to the drawing, in Fig. 1 the refer- Willrdly,v and the leading edge 0f the bolt 40 iS ense character In designates a swinging door of slightly sloped upwardly as at 82. es more clearly an automobile of usual construction having an shown in Fig. 3, S0 aS t0 take Care 0f any Slight outer panel i2, an inner panel i4, and en edge 50 miselignment or sagging of the door that may panel I6 adjacent the door frame I8 carrying the striker plate. An outside door handle 20 of usual construction is supported in the panel I2, with the rotated shaft 22 thereof extending through a suitable' opening and being supported at its inner -f exist. The door support action of the surface 'I8 exerted through the bolt as well as the clamping action of the keeper, as will be hereinafter described, holds the door from up and down movement, thus doing away with the usual dovetails. The keeper 84 is preferably fabricated of l such as, for example, a condensation product reinforced with fabric. As shown, the keeper 84 is pivotally supported upon a pin or stud 88 and continuously urged to the position shown in Fig. 1 by a spring 88. The face 90 of the keeper 84, which engages with the bolt 40, progressively increases in distance from the axis of the pin y88 from its front portion 92 to its rear portion 84. The surface 90 also has a transverse slope, as more clearly shown in Fig. 2, in the direction of bolt projection.

To specically describe the construction of the bolt 40 so that its cooperation with the keeper 84 will be clearly understood, the upper surface of the bolt 40 has two longitudinally spaced sloping portions or lobes 88 and |00, the surface portions of which correspond generally to the operative surface 80 of the keeper 84. Preferably, the engaging surfaces of the bolt with the keeper have a slope-corresponding generally to that of the surface 90 of the keeper. With this arrangement, should a. person close the door I0, retaining the handle 20 in a position retracting the bolt 40, upon releasing the handle 20, through the action of the spring 56 the bolt 40 would be projected to the position shown in Fig. 2 and into locking engagement with the keeper 84.

The operation of my improved door lock and the cooperation between the bolt 40 and the keeper 84 is as follows: When the door I0 is closed, with the bolt 40 in a projected position, the leading edge |02 of the bolt 40 will engage with the leading edge 92 of the keeper 84 to rock the latter clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 3, so as to enable the same to seat upon the slope portion 98. Now itis in safety catchvposition, and the door cannot open for the reason that an opening movement of the door with the bolt 40 projecting would necessitate counter-clockwise movement of the keeper 84, which is impossible due to the shape of the keeper 84 and the fact that the bolt 40 is' rigidly supported for sliding movement in a horizontal plane upon the supporting surface 18. Upon the movement of the bolt 40 from a safety catch position into that position shown in Fig. 3, in which the door is fully closed, this will result in the keeper 84 being again rocked counter-clockwise due to engagement of the leading edge 82, with the projecting surface |04 and the movement thereafter of the keeper 84 into the position shown in Fig. 3, in which the surface 8 0 of the keeper 84 is engaging with the slope of the bolt 40. With the bolt 40 and the keeper 84 in the position shown in Fig. 3, any opening movement of the door |0 is resisted by the fact that this would necessitate a counterclockwise movement of the keeper 84, which cannot take place because of the shape of the surface 80, the presence of the bolt 40, and the resistance of the supporting surface '|8. Although the spring 88 is relatively light. with the result that the keeper 84 will yield to the bolt 40 under the slightest 'pressure with relatively silent closing of the door, due to the gradual pitch of the surface 90 this light spring pressure is suillcient to continuously urge the door into a snugly closed position.

It will become apparent from la consideration of Fig. 2 that the bolt 40 must be substantially retracted relative to the striker plate before being released by the keeper 84. 'Ihis arrangement prevents the movement of the bolt from its fully varm ||2. The arm ||2 closed position to the safety catch position upon partial retraction of the bolt. as is possible in l. great many locks now being used upon automobile doors, and to a .great extenteliminates any practical necessity for the provision of a safety catch position in the locking structure.

As heretofore stated, the design of the bolt 40 and the keeper 84 is such that the bolt 40 can move into locking engagement with the keeper 84 either by transverse movement or axial movement, the transverse. movement taking place when the door is closed with the bolt retracted and thereafter released, and the axial movement taking place when the door is closed withthe bolt in a projected position, engagement taking place in either case in either the safety latch or the fully locked position.

For operating the bolt 40 from inside of the door I0,- the side |08 of the bracket 30 is slotted at |08 to receive a pin 0 carried by the arm l2, which'is in turn pinned at ||4'to the plate ||8 upon the shaft 8 of the inside handle |20. VThe mounting bracket |22 hasl an extension |24 with a flange |28 slotted at |80 to receive the is reduced at |32 to receive a spring |34, which abuts the flange I 2l at one end and the collar |36 at the other. With the handle |20 in the full line position of Fig. 2, the pin ||0 is at one end of the slot, with the linkage formed by the arm ||2 and plate ||8 in a straight line. With the parts in this position, retraction ofthe bolt 40 by the outside handle 20 is prevented. With the handle |20 in the dotted lineposition, the pin ||0 is at the oppo-v site end of the slot |08, and counter-clockwise movement will rock the plate 42 and the bolt 43 carried thereby to retract the bolt, permitting the door I0 to be opened. When the handle 20 is turned to 'retract the bolt 40 with the inside handle |20 in the dotted line position, the pin ||0 merely traverses the length of the slot |08.

It will be 'apparent to those skilled in the art that the door latch construction herein disclosed for the most part may be inexpensively fabri-v cated from sheet metal parts. 'I'he striker plate, as well as the latch mechanism supported in the door, is adapted for installation in the present type of construction for automobile doors and does not necessitate any material changes. My improved construction is considered to havev very definite advantagesover that disclosed in my Patent No. 2,090,493, granted August 17, 1937. In the present construction the bolt is positively retracted in a conventional manner to clear the keeper. Moreover, the bolt is provided with at least one, and preferably two, very definite projections, which engage behind the keeper to provide a very positive latching action between the bolt and the keeper. This l is particularly so where the rigid supporting surface is provided beneath the keeper and against which the action of the keeper clamps the bolt.

yIt will be understood that the safety catch or latch projection on the bolt may be omitted. However, at the present time this feature is considered desirable in automobile doors. It is anticipated within the scope of the present invention to rotate the keeper through a plane from that disclosed and to consistently alter the relative action of the bolt, in which case the bolt would be projected and retracted in the plane of the edge of the door to clear the keeper. The pivotal movement of the keeper will take place in a horizontal plane.

In Fig. 4, the bolt 40 is shown equipped with a latch |38 pivoted at |40 in a slot |42. A spring asoalloo 3 |44 urges the latch |38 into the position shown preventing the bolt 40 from being retract-ed when the door is opened. When the door is closed the supporting surface 18 will rock the latch |38 upwardly to clear the ange 48' to permit the bolt 40 to be retracted. This arrangement assures the projecting of the bolt at the time of door closure preventing the door from being closed with the bolt retracted except-under the circumstances where the bolt is retracted tol open the door and held in that position upon door closure.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to protect by Letters Patent and claim is:

In a latch for automobile doors, the combina: tion of a bolt supporting structure, a retractible bolt supported from said structure and having a safety catch projection and a full latch projection upon the upper surface thereof, a striker said portion engaging with either of said projections to prevent movement of said bolt in an opposite direction and acting to clamp `said bolt against said supporting surface, and means K for retracting said bolt to clear said keeper.

GEORGE W. 

